Identifying the notes and timing of a musical score are taught to music students via a combined time signature scale, clef, sharp, flat, note, key symbology and a spatially relevant line space staff note positional relationship. This methodology in conjunction with specific nomenclature for chord structures e.g. tonic, dominant seventh, sub-dominant, diminished, augmented, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, major, minor etc., is used to graphically relate musical information to the performing musical artist, thereby enabling that person to play the music as written by the composer. See attached chord chart, FIG. 8B.
The accomplished musical performer must relate what is observed in time and space, sequentially in the musical score, into an interpretative spatial positioning of his hands, fingers, feet, lips, breath or voice as is required for the instrument being played be it mechanical, electromechanical or the human voice.
Prior to the existance of written music, and even today, some musical instruments are learned and played by rote i.e. without a musical score. For example, the self taught individual can often learn a fixed chord or pleasing sequential routine and though repetition of these chord forms and phrases, learn to play in a mechanically routine way, often without obtaining formal knowledge of written music. This so called "Learning to Play by Ear" contrasts with reading the music and "Learning to Play by Note".
Many professional pianists combine improvisational techniques playing a melody line with the right hand and defined chord structures with the left hand. So called "Fake Books" make use of this means of communicating the musical score by only depicting the melody line, timing, the desired key and the associated chord no menclature. This short hand version of the musical score truncates the complexity of the written music, giving the musician full freedom to improvise and develop his own style or technique, while maintaining the basic theme or melody line as intended by the original composer.
Developing the knowledge and digital dexterity required to read the full blown score or even truncated versions of the music requires much concentrated effort and practice in relating the spatial position of the human appendages required to translate the written graphic information to pleasing instrumental music.
Teaching the music student to read currently involves a series of music books from beginner through advanced that are used to gradually increase the student's knowledge by playing over a number of years, a sequence of increasingly difficult pieces in varying keys, playing scales, fingering exercises, chords. In more advanced years the student is given musical theory.
Many students lose interest and drop from music programs early in life because of the long arduous task of accomplishing the necessary human musical spatial translation ability, i.e. from the written music to the instrument. Other players cannot read or don't understand chords.
The music theory, usualy taught late in a musician's education, teaches the inter-relationships of chromatic/diatonic, major, musical notation for the selected chords and scales.
The invention is portable and Can be realized in many embodiments for different instruments and can be manufactured from many different materials. The invention linearly or circularly computes all of the aforementioned parameters and presents the results in a windowed or surface display along with the spatial position for each of the associated scales and chord structure as shown on one or more surfaces of the invention. The device can be constructed small enough to fit in a pocket, large enough to be used for a class room instruction or in other forms to be made to hang around the student's neck in the form of a pendant.